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Quote:

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone (Post 9069941)

Actually all the slots were taken by Southwest. There are currently no spare slots available at LGB.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/southw...slots-jetblue/

Thanks for the update. I knew they were after more but didn’t know they wanted all of them. Makes sense though in order to minimize competition.

WestJet are bursting the Atlantic bubble by indefinitely suspending (i.e., until the wrath of COVID-19 is over) YQM, YYJ, YFC and YQY, while significantly reducing YHZ and YYT.

Quote:

The suspension eliminates more than 100 flights weekly or almost 80 percent of seat capacity from the Atlantic region starting November 2.

So the previously discussed YOW-YHZ route drop was only the precursor of what was to come.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...816012728.html

They're also suspending service to YQB.

Quote:

Today, WestJet announced it will be indefinitely suspending operations to Moncton, Fredericton, Sydney and Charlottetown, while significantly reducing service to Halifax and St. John's. The suspension eliminates more than 100 flights weekly or almost 80 percent of seat capacity from the Atlantic region starting November 2 and also suspends operations to Quebec City, with the removal of Toronto service.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...878245020.html

Quote:

Atlantic Canada suspensions by the numbers

Elimination of more than 100 weekly flights or almost 80 percent of seat capacity from the Atlantic region.
Temporary closure and service to four Atlantic stations (Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton and Sydney).
Halifax seat capacity will be reduced by 70 per cent year over year.
The Atlantic provinces will retain three routes Halifax-Toronto, Halifax-Calgary and St. John's-Halifax.
Service between Halifax and Toronto will operate with 14 weekly flights.
Service between Halifax and St. John's will remain with 11 weekly flights.
Service between Halifax and Calgary will remain with nine weekly flights.

Fascinating that YHZ will still have more service to YYC than YOW and YUL combined (8x weekly vs 9x weekly). No mention of any impact on YDF and YQX...but aren't these latter two summer-seasonal stations anyways?

:haha: If not for the pandemic, I would be having an absolute mental breakdown after having to land to Halifax to get basically anywhere on Westjet lol

YYC-YHZ at 9x weekly is actually an increase over what they currently fly (once daily). I'm assuming their getting a ton of cargo to keep that route alive.

It's also been changed from a daytime flight to a red-eye ex YYC.

Atlantic really is becoming a bubble - no train service and now heavily cut flight services. :hmmm:

No surprise here. The airlines are slashing where they need to BUT it helps when the Liberals continue to give out ahem free money (can you say 10% GST in the next couple of years?). If the government is going to spew out more free handouts like in the link below, the business in this case WestJet will gladly shut down operations and restart them once government money comes into play.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/air...eech-1.5737508

YOW's September pax stats after the summer 'peak':

Sector / Sep-19 / Sep-20 / % Change
Dom: 338,515 / 44,068 / -87.0%
TB: 46,477 / 0 / -100.0%
Int'l: 22,935 / 0 / -100.0%
TTL: 407,927 / 44,068 / -89.2%

Sector / YTD 2019 / YTD 2020 / % Change
Dom: / 3,018,188 / 917,080 / -69.6%
TB: 530,887 / 163,093 / -69.3%
Int'l: 336,845 / 168,382 / -50.0%
TTL: 3,885,920 / 1,248,555 / -67.9%

Month-Over-Month Change
Sector / Aug-20 / Sep-20 / % Change
Dom: 57,210 / 44,068 / -23.0%
TB: 0 / 0 / N/A
Int'l: 0 / 0 / N/A
TTL: 57,210 / 44,068 / -23.0%

12 Months Rolling / % Change vs Year End 2019
Dom: 1,892,445 / -52.7%
TB: 318,503 / -55.8%
Int'l: 258,174 / -33.4%
TTL: 2,469,122 / -51.69%

Quote:

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory (Post 9070255)

Appears like Air India is adding permanent service to YVR.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...late-oct-2020/

That's great! Not a new route but their planes are a cool sight at YYZ with the stylized windows.

https://archive.indiaspend.com/wp-co...ads/620_AI.jpg
https://archive.indiaspend.com/cover...lp-india-65832

It's a great addition, not a new route, but to have both them an AC flying it show a lot of confidence, since it wasn't that long ago we had no non-stop service from YVR to India at all

Quote:

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory (Post 9070255)

Appears like Air India is adding permanent service to YVR.

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...late-oct-2020/

They're not permanent additions per se. India is still officially closed to scheduled international flights.

Canada is one of 13 countries that has signed an "air bubble agreement" with India.

These flights are part of that agreement. They are heavily restricted, and are mostly available for Indian nationals. Usually AI used to load the flights one month at a time. This time around, they took the initiative to open flights for booking until March.

When the dust settles after this virus and all the major carriers can once again carry Indian passengers, we don't know if AI will continue with YYZ/YVR service.

The following articles are a good read on the subject.

https://simpleflying.com/air-india-canada-march-2021/

https://indianexpress.com/article/ex...where-6558944/

Incidentally, Turkey isn't one of the countries with a bubble agreement, meaning they cant carry passengers to India. Which would explain why TK keep delaying YVR. If they can't sell YVR-India traffic, it's probably not worth it to launch the route.

Meanwhile, AC and AI are benefitting from the reduced competition. Just a guess, but fares on these flights must be way above average.

Looks like the snowbirds are still traveling despite the government's recommendations against it.

LF's on many of the southbound flights have been fairly good. Today's WS departure to PHX had what looks like just 6 empty seats. All 4 flights from YYC to Mexico tomorrow appear at least 80% full (Given the weather in Alberta, I wish I could headed to warmer places too).

Quote:

Originally Posted by hollywoodcory (Post 9075601)

On the Global Calgary noon news today, a snowbird preparing to fly south was interviewed. She said if she’s going to get covid, it didn’t matter if it was in Canada or in the US. Guess her insurance must be really good! I wouldn’t want to get and be treated for covid in the US!

TS laying off flights attendants for the winter season and closing YVR base until further notice.

https://www.flightglobal.com/strateg...140662.article

You need to sign up to read the full article, but here it is, in its entirety.

Quote:

Transat down to 160 flight attendants in November: union

Canada’s Air Transat will be laying off more flight attendants and closing a west-coast base in the coming weeks as the coronavirus continues to take its toll on the country’s air transport industry, the Canadian union for public employees (CUPE) says.

“The Air Transat component of CUPE has just learned that the number of its flight attendant members will drop to less than 160 in November, from a total of 2,000 employees in normal times,” the union writes on 16 October. “Air Transat’s Vancouver base will be closed completely until further notice.”

The Montreal-based vacation specialist had completely suspended flight operations in April as coronavirus-prompted lockdowns and travel restrictions hit the Canadian air travel industry hard. The country continues to maintain strict rules on freedom of movement, including a mandatory 14-day quarantine period for all inbound passengers, including citizens.

Transat resumed flights on 23 July, a week before the end of the company’s fiscal third quarter. As a result of just nine days of operation during that quarter, the company reported a 99% decline in revenue from the same period a year ago, with just C$9.5 million ($7.2 million).

At one point Transat had brought back a high of 355 flight attendants, the union says.

The airline responds that since the beginning of the pandemic it has continually adjusted staff levels to forecasted capacity.

”With the Canadian borders remaining closed more hermetically than most countries and a quarantine imposed to those coming back to Canada, while no sectoral help has been put in place for airlines, the prospects are unfortunately not improving in the near future, so we have to furlough some of the employees that we had called back for our restart in July,” the airline says.

About 66% of the airline’s employees are currently on furlough, down from 85% in May, the company adds.

In order to help get the industry back on its feet and aviation professionals working again, CUPE is now also calling on the government to launch a comprehensive coronavirus screening programme so that the quarantine requirements can be lifted and customers can have more confidence in booking flights.

“All of our information indicates that Air Transat’s resumption of activities in the summer and fall of 2020 was totally safe for passengers and staff,” Julie Roberts, president of CUPE’s Air Transat component says. “A rapid screening system that provides pre-boarding results would be a crucial addition for reviving the airline industry. We sometimes forget that more than 600,000 jobs in Canada depend on this industry, directly or indirectly.”

Last week, Transat and Air Canada agreed on a sharply discounted price for the mainline carrier’s planned takeover of the holiday specialist.

The two airlines stated on 10 October that Air Canada will now acquire all shares of Transat for C$5 per share, payable at the option of Transat shareholders in cash or shares of Air Canada at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.2862 Air Canada share for each Transat share, valuing the transaction at C$190 million.

That figure is down significantly from Air Canada’s originally-agreed offer, approved by Transat shareholders more than a year ago, of C$720 million, or C$18 per share, to acquire the company.

TS still had a YVR base? Strange, I thought that would have been gone a few years ago when they more or less left the market.

They barely had any left in YVR, the cuts will be more in YUL and YYZ. My friend was one of the few left here, but said they all knew it was coming, so many found something else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thenoflyzone (Post 9075572)

I know people that are Canadian nationals and booked flights, you can go onto their website and book it too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zahav (Post 9075820)

I know people that are Canadian nationals and booked flights, you can go onto their website and book it too.

Those Canadians are either returning back to Canada or have OCI status (Overseas Citizenship of India), which is almost like dual citizenship.

Like I said. Very restricted.

https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/en/...nsport-bubbles

Quote:

Canada

India has created an air travel arrangement with Canada. Indian carriers and Air Canada are now permitted to operate services between India and Canada and carry the following categories of persons on such flights:

A. From India to Canada

i. Stranded Canadian nationals/residents and foreigners with valid Canadian visa eligible to enter Canada;
ii. Indian nationals with valid visas eligible to enter Canada. It would be for the airlines concerned to ensure that there is no travel restriction for Indian nationals to enter Canada before issue of ticket/ boarding pass to the Indian passenger; and
iii. Seamen of foreign nationalities; Seamen holding Indian passports would be allowed subject to clearance from the Ministry of Shipping

B. From Canada to India

i. Stranded Indian nationals;
ii. All Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders holding Canadian passports; and
iii. Foreigners (including diplomats), who are eligible to enter India as per Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines dated 30.06.2020 as amended from time to time.

Here is a copy of the MHA guideline. Basically, all foreign nationals (excluding diplomats) need to have OCI status to travel to India.

https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/sit...es-30-june.pdf

I wonder what the economics of a direct New Delhi to Winnipeg flight would be like (especially post-pandemic). If I remember correctly, a report in the past showed that it’s a busy route with high demand despite no direct flights between the 2 cities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EspionNoir (Post 9076105)

I know YWG-MNL has high demand, but never saw anything about YWG-DEL.

https://www.anna.aero/2018/03/21/win...0000-searches/

Based on the last census, Alberta and Quebec have a higher Indo-Canadian population than Manitoba. YYC-DEL is far more likely to happen compared to YWG-DEL.

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